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Famed rocker Neil Young headlined Saturday’s action at the Arroyo Seco Weekend festival in Pasadena, California with Promise Of The Real. Neil & POTR’s set came after three warmup shows earlier in the week at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and once again Young continues to perform without a pre-determined setlist with impressive results. Young had high praise for his Arroyo Seco set with guitarists Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson, bassist Corey McCormick, drummer Anthony Logerfo and percussionist Tato Melgar in a post on NeilYoungArchives.com.
Young led his group through a total of 14 songs over the course of their two-hour festival set this past Saturday night. A huge songlist was hung behind Neil that he would pick from based on how the show was going. “You made my day! What a great crowd. Funny how an unplanned set breathes like real rock and roll,” Young wrote on his website. “WE just play what we feel like playing, for as long as we feel like playing it, and it works for us!” The guitarist and POTR extended many of the tunes they performed at the festival with lengthy jams including a 20-minute “Like An Inca” and adventurous takes on “Down By The River” and “Cortez The Killer.”
Neil also discussed the inclusion of “Ohio” from his CSNY days and “Angry World” off Le Noise, which was debuted live for the first time during the rehearsal shows. “[On Saturday night] OHIO took on a new life near the end of the set. For some reason it felt good to mention a president’s name in a song without it being the current occupant of the WH,” Young explained in his note. “How about ANGRY WORLD, I can’t believe I have never played that song before this week. People really want to hear about real life, especially young people like the one’s we met at Arroyo Seco.”
The legendary musician was effusive in his praise of the band. “Promise Of The Real had my back all night. What an unbelievable energy comes out of the Real! I love playing with Promise Of The Real. They know all my songs,” Young added. Head to NeilYoungArchives.com for Neil’s entire note about Arroyo Seco Weekend and watch fan-shot highlights from the set below captured by Millerviller:
Setlist (via Sugar Mountain)
Set: Like An Inca, Fuckin’ Up, Cortez The Killer, Forget About Georgia, Everything Is Bullshit, I Am A Child, Lotta Love, Rockin’ In The Free World, Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black), Angry World, Powderfinger
Encore: Ohio, Down By The River, Roll Another Number
